Delaware River Basin Involves NY, PA, NJ, DE Now at Risk

New Jersey agency seeks review of FERC orders on PennEast pipeline

From an Update by Miguel Cordon, S&P Global Market Intelligence, August 22, 2018

A New Jersey agency in charge of protecting state ratepayers asked a federal appeals court to review the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of PennEast Pipeline’s 1.1-Bcf/d natural gas pipeline project.

The New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel in a Monday letter asked the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit to review a FERC order that issued a Natural Gas Act certificate to the project and another order that turned down a request that the commission reconsider that approval. The state agency said it was “aggrieved” by the FERC rulings.

The New Jersey agency has disagreed with the federal commission’s conclusion that the project was needed. During the pipeline’s federal review, the state agency submitted evidence that it said demonstrated a lack of gas demand from New Jersey gas utilities (US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit docket 18-2853).

FERC recently issued a number of orders that shut down challenges to its approvals of major interstate gas pipeline projects. One of these orders rejected a rehearing request by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network related to the FERC approval of PennEast. The environmental group has asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review the FERC approval and rehearing orders on PennEast.

The PennEast pipeline would run from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to deliver gas from the Marcellus Shale. Shippers for the project, including local distribution companies and electric power generators, have subscribed to about 1 Bcf/d of the project’s firm transportation capacity in binding precedent agreements. The project would consists of a 36-inch-diameter pipeline running 120 miles from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to an interconnection with Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line in Mercer County, New Jersey (CP15-558).

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Kayakers call for ‘full’ fracking ban in Delaware River basin

From an Article by Kyle Bagenstose, The Doylestown PA Intelligencer, August 21, 2018

Demonstrators launched a protest from Bordentown Beach, saying they want New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to ban importation of wastewater from drilling operations.

Call them kayak-tivists.

A group of demonstrators took their self-powered watercraft to the Delaware River on Tuesday morning, along with a banner carrying their message to “Ban Fracking and Frack Waste” in the river’s basin. A small contingent also took a three-hour excursion up the Crosswicks Creek in Bordetown, New Jersey, forgoing an earlier plan to cross the Delaware River to Bristol Borough due to an ominous weather forecast.

The demonstration is the latest iteration of a nearly decade-long effort to ban hydraulic fracturing, a natural gas drilling technique, in the basin. The focus is directed on the Delaware River Basin Commission, an inter-state regulatory agency whose five-member voting body comprises the governors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York, along with a federal government representative.

The DRBC is currently mulling regulations on fracking, which has been de facto banned in the basin since the commission punted on the issue in 2010 following intense public pressure.

Draft regulations presented in late 2017 would ban the use of hydraulic fracturing to reach natural gas deposits, a technique that has propagated throughout much of central and western Pennsylvania over the past decade. But they would allow for the regulated importation of waste from fracking operations elsewhere into the basin for treatment, and for clean water to be withdrawn from the basin for use in drilling operations.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie abstained from a vote last year that advanced the draft regulations, and activists on Tuesday directed the most attention toward current Gov. Phil Murphy.

“We want him to stand with us to defend the Delaware River, and vote at the (DRBC), where they will be voting before the end of the year,” said Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the nonprofit Bristol-based Delaware Riverkeeper Network. “We want all three of the activities to be banned.”

Kate Schmidt, a spokeswoman for the commission, wrote in an email the DRBC has “no set schedule” for when it will vote on the regulations. “As always, the Commission may adopt final rules only at a duly noticed public meeting,” Schmidt added.

Whenever the vote does come, Murphy’s ability to change the course of regulations is uncertain. After they were proposed last year, the governors of Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania all voted in favor of advancing to a formal review, with New Jersey abstaining and the federal government voting against. If that majority holds when the draft regulations are taken up for an official vote later this year, New Jersey’s vote would be extraneous.

Jeff Tittel, president of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said Tuesday he thinks Murphy could still exert influence. He pointed out Murphy is now the chairman of the commission.

“We want him to lead as chair to amend the rules, to take out the fracking waste and withdrawal of water,” Tittel said. “If you give them the water for fracking, and then they turn around and give you the waste back, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Tittel added he believed the Murphy administration is waffling from a campaign trail commitment to support a full ban. He said Kathleen Frangione, Murphy’s chief policy advisory, and Catherine McCabe, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Agency secretary, said recently they were “studying” the issue of banning wastewater importation.

A news release still on Murphy’s campaign website also includes the text of a letter he submitted to the DRBC in June 2017 advocating for a full ban. “I fully support a ban on the importation of fracking wastes into New Jersey — to protect against an accident or spill that would harm our lands and waters,” Murphy wrote.

However, Murphy’s office did not say Tuesday whether the governor would take any actions to pursue a full ban. Asked for the governor’s position, deputy press secretary Liza Acevedo pointed in part to a February 2018 letter Murphy wrote to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.

In the letter, Murphy wrote only that he “Supports a ban on fracking and the commission’s efforts to drive this policy through these draft regulations.”

Acevedo later added “The Governor does not comment on draft regulations, particularly ones that received a high volume of comments that are being reviewed by staff.”

Carluccio and Tittel said they are primarily concerned about toxic materials in wastewater from fracturing operations reaching the basin’s waterways. Particularly of interest is the Delaware River itself, which serves as a source of drinking water for millions in the region.

Carluccio said she’s concerned wastewater treatment processes are not capable of fully removing toxic substances from the wastewater before discharging them back into the environment. Much of what’s in wastewater is uncertain due to trade secrecy, although it’s known the water can also pick up contaminants such as barium and radium from underground.

She added she’s worried that as the gas industry runs out of underground injection wells in which to discharge wastewater, they may focus on exporting it to areas such as the basin for disposal.

However, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a drilling industry group, provided figures stating the industry recycles more than 90 percent of its wastewater for use in other wells.

The coalition also argues hydraulic fracturing can be done safely and with little impact to water resources. Often cited is the Susquehanna River basin, which encompasses drilling areas and has its own commission, the SRBC.

“For more than a decade now, the SRBC has safely managed water resources, while allowing for responsible development of property rights,” David Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, told state lawmakers at a June hearing. “The unconventional natural gas industry has worked closely with the SRBC to ensure that water withdrawals and water usage within the basin are done in a safe and responsible manner.”

Commission officials also are adamant that the draft regulations would be an improvement over what currently exists and discourage the importation of waste water. Schmidt said the current moratorium on drilling does not extend to importation, and the commission can only review any permit applications when they involve withdrawing more than 100,0000 gallons of water or importing more than 50,000 gallons of wastewater per day. Instituting the regulations would place new scrutiny on any such activities for drilling activities, officials said.

Tagged as: DE, Delaware River, DRBC, drilling, fracking, marcellus shale, NJ, NY, PA, PENN-EAST pipeline, toxic chemicals, wastewater, water pollution